Rebuilding project: Making dream a reality is Astros’ daunting task

The 2013 Astros team that broke camp in spring training is a mix-and-match collection of low-cost veterans and unproven players who will be a bridge to better times. (Karen Warren/Chronicle)

This is the dream: It’s 2015, the Astros matter and Minute Maid Park roars again. Carlos Correa owns shortstop, no longer a potential franchise-changing prospect but a young, clean Alex Rodriguez in the flesh. Correa’s swift and steady, thrilling and untouchable. And he’s surrounded by talent: George Springer, Jonathan Singleton, Delino DeShields Jr. Exciting names fans know; players who’ll stick around to form an annual wave that floods downtown Houston seven consecutive months a year, erasing any remnants of the franchise’s painful top-to-bottom rebuild. United, the talent has the potential to eventually return the once-proud Astros to their 2005 World Series-appearance peak.

This is the reality: The Astros enter 2013 as the worst team in baseball two years running. Their American League debut has been dreaded by many of the team’s most devoted fans since it was announced. Everything from new ownership to long-stalled TV negotiations have further alienated would-be believers.

The Astros have lost 213 games the last two seasons — including a franchise-record 107 in 2012 — and everyone from national writers, baseball insiders and bloggers have at times joyfully predicted the Astros will collect at least 100 losses again, drawing comparisons to the highly embarrassing 1962-65 expansion-era New York Mets.

The Astros’ 2013 debut — a 7 p.m. matchup Sunday against the Rangers at Minute Maid Park that will mark MLB’s season opener and be televised on ESPN — could be the highlight of the their season, no matter if they win or lose. Because after the national TV lights fade and the magical pageantry of opening day is removed, reality will hit and the low-budget Astros will have 161 more games to play.

Second-year general manager Jeff Luhnow has given first-year manager Bo Porter an active 25-man roster worth about $20 million, with $5 million more going to former starting pitcher Wandy Rodriguez. It’s the lowest payroll in baseball since the 2008 Florida Marlins ($21 million) and a surreal level in a modern game highlighted by $200 million-plus teams (Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees) and a $29-million-per-year player (Rodriguez). Second baseman Jose Altuve is the lone remaining recognizable athlete on a mix-and-match Astros roster composed of low-risk veterans on low-cost, one-year deals (Carlos Pena, Rick Ankiel Erik Bedard, Philip Humber, Jose Veras, Ronny Cedeno) and even lower-risk, largely unknown position starters such as Matt Dominguez and Brett Wallace, who are former first-round picks who were traded away by their former teams.

“That (payroll) is low. That’s really low,” said MLB Network analyst Sean Casey, who played first base in the majors from 1997-2008. “The only thing that makes you kind of cringe a little bit is you know how much baseball revenue every year is coming in and you know the Astros are making some money, too. So you do still have to put a product on the field that the fans can relate to when they come out and mix in a few young guys that can develop. I think if there’s maybe one gripe, that’s the one gripe.”

Pull the 2013 Astros together, wrap them up and an unorthodox package is presented: new colors, new uniforms, a new manager and a new league; castoff players, the bare bones of Moneyball and the lowest of expectations for a big-market team that’s attempting to redefine rebuilding for a new era of baseball. All in the name of 2015 and beyond. All with the understanding the expected pain of 2013 is worth the price of the dream.

“There’s really kind of three waves (of players) coming, and who are the key parts of all three of those waves? And we’re going to create a fourth wave as soon as we can,” Luhnow said. “And how (does) it all fit together? Because we all love prospects. But we know that there’s a failure rate among them, so we need to see it.”

He added: “We’re not there yet. But it doesn’t mean we’re not concerned about the quality of play at the big league level, because we absolutely are.”

Energy at the top

The Astros spent nearly two months in spring training. With the team based in Kissimmee, Fla., Luhnow was everywhere — watching batting practice up-close behind the cage; speaking behind closed doors with the organization’s analytics-based decision scientists; joining everyone from new hitting coach John Mallee to new assistant general manager David Stearns while surveying an in-flux team that began with 61 spring-training players and ended with 25.

While Luhnow observed, Porter roared. The Astros’ GM has been dually gifted and burdened with the responsibility of tearing down and building up a baseball team that just two years ago was the worst major league club and minor league pipeline in the game. But the 2013 Astros belong to Porter, and the youngest manager in baseball has refused since he took the job last September to believe for one second his new team again will be the worst in the sport.

Porter can’t control the Astros’ payroll — “I totally ignore it. … That’s part of the noise,” he said — and his initial payoff as the rebuilding team’s young manager has been receiving late-career veterans such as Pena, Ankiel and Bedard, who are attempting to extend their baseball lives. But the fiery, passionate Porter didn’t give any ground during spring training. And he spent February and March trying to establish a mental and physical base the Astros can build upon throughout the decade.

Part preacher and part warrior, the 40-year-old Porter has been the biggest initial star during the Astros’ rebuild. He’s propelled his players on the field, clamoring for aggressive play that blends small ball with the three-run homer. He’s bonded with players off it, becoming the anti-Brad Mills by releasing any lingering tension inside the team’s clubhouse and building off the successful 2012 late-season work of interim manager Tony DeFrancesco.

Astros front-office members insist the team will be better than its 2012 self, and Luhnow has gone out of his way to proclaim the club will exceed abysmal national expectations.

“We’re going to get off to a good start,” Luhnow said. “I feel good about that.”

Porter has done Luhnow one better, insisting the Astros lost nearly 40 games last season just on effort alone and believing his club can suddenly change its course in 2013 simply by winning break point.

Throughout spring training, Porter’s eyes searched for players who can last. His brain, heart and baseball instincts sought out proud, no-quit athletes who’ll continually meet him halfway and restore pride to the Astros.

“The biggest thing for us as an organization is to find out what core players can establish themselves as everyday players in the big leagues,” Porter said. “It’s on the entire organization. … You want to get to the point where, obviously, you come to spring training and you’re trying to fill one, two, maybe three holes on your ballclub. In order to do that, you have to have players establish themselves as everyday major league players.”

Reality check

In 2015, the Astros should be overloaded with everyday talent. For now, it’s platoons and constant farm-system callups, minor trades and lesser signings, player biographies and roster sheets that are mandatory for any fan randomly walking into Minute Maid Park and wondering what’s going on with Houston’s baseball team.

One hundred-loss predictions and how-low-can-the-Astros-go jokes are hanging curveballs in the baseball world. But somewhere between the dream of 2015 and the reality of 2013 is a soft spot, and that’s where the Astros hope to land this season.

Luhnow isn’t immune to the criticism. Porter privately acknowledges his first year with the club could be rough on the diamond, which is why he spent spring training puffing his chest and placing a force field around his $20 million team.

Yet the duo also believe the Astros’ starting pitching, infield defense, power hitting and bullpen could be significantly improved in 2013.

Catcher Jason Castro is in line for a major league breakthrough; righthanded starters Bud Norris and Lucas Harrell are on the verge of taking the next step; Ankiel was the Astros’ best overall player during spring training; everyone from Dominguez and Wallace to Chris Carter and Humber showed promise.

The 2013 Astros could go down in franchise history as one of the weakest and thinnest teams the organization has fielded. That’s the price of being in Year One of a multistage construction project, the effect of emerging from the complete destruction and overhaul that was the 2012 season.

But the team’s front office believes it’s within sight of less-crooked numbers — 72 wins and 90 losses — and those figures would instantly translate into much-needed momentum. A springboard for 2014, when prospects such as Jonathan Villar, Springer and Singleton settle in. A launching pad for 2015, when Correa arrives and the Astros are within sight of annual major league contention, while the organization’s minor league pipeline pumps out premium talent for years to come.

“Once the lights go on and we’re at Minute Maid Park, I’m hoping that our fans get to share some of the excitement that we’ve experienced here in spring training,” Luhnow said. “I can’t wait for our fans at Minute Maid to start getting a taste of it. They’re hearing about it, they’re reading about it. But for them to see it and for it to start showing up on the 10 o’clock news, that’s what’s really going to drive the excitement in Houston.